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The Swiss cuisine

is unique in its many influences from foreign schools of cuisine, traditionally the Italian, French, and German cuisine, as well as the nowadays added contribution of the many expats living in Switzerland, and the culinary discoveries of Swiss tourists in farther away countries, e.g. Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Middle Eastern. All have influenced the prevailing eating tastes as well as the use of a wide variety of seasoning.

Swiss Dishes and Produce

However, the Swiss also have their own unique dishes and produce. Switzerland was for a long time a country of farmers, so their specialties involve potatoes : Rösti and cheese: e.g. Fondue and Raclette - both heavily promoted by the Swiss Cheese Union, in order to boost sales of cheese -, and many other elaborated Dairy products, e.g. chocolate, (consult also Swiss chocolate ), yoghurt.

Rösti, originally a breakfast food, is now a popular potato side dish that is eaten all over Switzerland. At breakfast it was replaced by the Birchermuesli that was elaborated by Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner (1867-1939), (a pioneer of organic medicine and whole foods). Also, for breakfast and dinner many Swiss enjoy sliced bread with butter, jam and cheese. The same ingredients eaten with plain broiled potatoes and green salad gschwälti make for a full Lunch or Dinner.

All kinds of pasta and noodles from all proveniences are welcomed side dishes.

Tarts are also traditional Swiss dishes, homemade with all sorts of toppings, from sweet apple and many other fruits to onion cheese and/or a combination thereof quiches, as well as pizzas.

Cervelat or cervelas is a Swiss national sausage.

Besides, each of the four cultural regions of Switzerland (see Languages of Switzerland has kept typical recipes and produce, e.g.:

Recipes from the French part

Papet vaudois The dishes of Canton Vaud tend to be particularly filling: leeks with potatoes, served with Saucisson, and/or with 'Saucisse au foie' and 'Saucisse au chou' (smoked liver or cabbage sausages).

Recipes from the German part

Emmentaler Apple Rösti: This used to be a very popular meal, since the ingredients were usually at hand and the preparation is very simple.

Fotzel slices: Nobody really knows how this dish got its name. Literally, "fotzel" means a torn-off scrap of paper, but in Basel dialect it means a suspicious individual, or a ne'er-do-well. Swiss grandmothers used to use stale bread to make fotzel slices, which made it an ideal recipe for housewives accustomed to the rule: "Never throw any bread away."

' Zopf' fr (Tresse) (interwoven white bread): among the many types of bread available in Switzerland it is the typical Swiss Sunday bread.

Züri gschnätzeltes— thin strips of veal with mushrooms in a cream sauce served with rösti.

Älplermagronen: (Alpine herdsman's macaroni) is a frugal all-in-one dish making use of the ingredients the herdsmen had at hand in their alpine cottages: macaroni, potatoes, onions, small pieces of bacon, and melted cheese. Traditionally Älplermagronen is served with applesauce instead of vegetables or salad.

Recipes from the Italian part

Polenta: made with corn rough flower. It has now become the staple side dish of the area, best slowly cooked for hours on a wood fire, in a big brass cauldron hanging in the chimney of a typical " Grotto Ticinese".

Saffron Risotto: A typical rice side dish from Ticino

Recipes from the Graubünden Canton

Churer Meat Pie: A popular dish Bündner Soup: Their most famous Barley soup Pizokel with cabbage: Pizokel were eaten in a wide variety of ways. They are known in Romansh as "bizochels bluts", or “bald pizokel”. Figuratively when someone leaves a small amount of any kind of food on the serving dish for politeness' sake, in the {{{Engadine}}} this is called "far sco quel dal bizoccal", meaning more or less “leaving the last pizokel”.

Bündner Nusstorte: There are several different recipes for nut cake, but the most famous is probably the one from the Engadine, a valley in Canton Graubünden.

Haute Cuisine

According to the 2005 edition of world renowned Michelin Guide, Switzerland ranks 2nd worldwide in terms of stars awarded per capita. ^[1]

Philippe Rochat is a local well-known chef, with the highest marks from both the Guide Michelin and Gault Millau Guide.

Beverages

Chocolate drinks: are available in a many different styles and tastes

Ovomaltine malt based drink, (known in the USA as " Ovaltine") originated in Switzerland. It used to be promoted as the sportsman's drink and still enjoys ongoing popularity, particularly with young people.

Rivella, a carbonated Swiss drink, made from milk serum, unknown abroad, it is one of the most popular drinks in Switzerland

Apple juice is popular in many areas of Switzerland. It is also produced in the form of cider.

Wine is produced in many regions of Switzerland, particularly the Valais, the Vaud, the Ticino and the canton of Zurich. Riesling X Sylvaner is a common white wine produced in German-speaking parts of the country, while Chasselas is the most common white wine in the French-speaking part. Pinot Noir is the most popular red grape in both areas, whereas Merlot holds the top position in the Italian-speaking part.

Absinthe Long banned by a specific anti-Absinthe article in the Swiss constitution, it was legalized again in 2005, with the adoption of the new constitution, and again distilled officially in its Val-de-Travers birthplace, in the Jura, where it originated.

Damassine, an eau de vie, AOC produce of Ajoie, Jura.

Wine and beer can legally be purchased by youths of 16 or more years of age. Spirits and beverages containing distilled alcohol (including Alco pops like Bacardi Breezer) can be bought at 18. Socialization with alcohol unfortunately begins at increasingly earlier ages, in increasing volumes.

See also

• Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, an online encyclopaedia of Swiss dishes and produce, where you can search for the description of around 400 specialties (unfortunately as yet, not in English).

References